Openness rose after psilocybin, and stayed up a year later
What they did
Researchers tracked the five major personality domains before and after high-dose psilocybin sessions in fifty-two healthy volunteers, measuring again one to two months after and around fourteen months after.
What they found
Openness rose by about 2.8 points overall and by 5.7 points in participants who had a complete mystical-type experience. In that subgroup it was still roughly 4.2 points above baseline more than a year later. The other four domains did not change.
Worth knowing
Personality is generally considered stable in adulthood, which is what makes this notable and also what should make you cautious. The effect concentrated in a subgroup defined after the fact.
MacLean et al. Mystical experiences occasioned by the hallucinogen psilocybin lead to increases in the personality domain of openness. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2011.
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meaningTwo months on, volunteers still called it deeply meaningfulcreativityPsilocybin makes you worse at creativity tests, then bettercognitionEighty-nine healthy people, and no cognitive change at allThe short version is that full doses make you worse at creative tasks while you are on them and slightly better a week later. Anyone selling you focus in a capsule is ahead of the evidence, including anyone selling capsules.
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